Eine Gruppe von Menschen sitzt in einem großen Raum auf Stühlen und hört einem Vortrag zu. Im Vordergrund steht ein Redner an einem Pult. An den Wänden sind farbige Schilder mit Symbolen und Zahlen angebracht. Die Atmosphäre ist formell und konzentriert.

Brave children and adolescents

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According to a study by the Barmer Institute for Health Research, more and more children and adolescents are experiencing depressive moods. In 2018, about 316,000 people aged 5 to 24 were diagnosed with a depressive episode; in the past year it was around 409,000, i.e. almost 30% more. The biggest rise occurred with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the COPSY study also show that children and adolescents are psychologically more burdened than before the pandemic. Children and adolescents in Germany are still doing worse psychologically than before the Corona pandemic. Wars, crises and terrorism cause fears and worries.

As a UNESCO project school, it is particularly important for us to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in our immediate environment: The 3rd sustainable development goal reads: "Health and well-being" – this is what we wish for our students so that they have a good start in life and can learn well.

To answer our most pressing questions, with the help of the School Association Freundeskreis Gymnasium Rahlstedt e.V. we have invited a real expert to our school: the child and adolescent psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Schulte-Markwort, who among other things served for many years as Medical Director of the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UKE and worked as a university professor at the University of Hamburg and the MSH, and at the same time built the private practices for child and adolescent psychiatry “Paidion- Heilkunde für Kinderseelen” in Hamburg and Berlin.

The thematic focus of his lecture lay on concentration difficulties caused by digital media consumption, the relatively new phenomenon of anxious, withdrawn girls and school anxiety. – All topics that we can observe in daily work with the children and adolescents at GyRa.

He closed the lecture with an appeal for greater participation of children and adolescents, for this is the key to acting on an equal footing and the best protection against personal crises.

A report by Katharina Ilemann